Reggae
star
Buju
Banton
on
Sunday
won
a
Grammy
Award,
but
he
could
be
facing
up
to
20
years
in
prison
on
drug-related
charges
in
a
U.S.
court.
Banton,
37,
born
Mark
Anthony
Myrie
in
Kingston,
Jamaica,
was
arrested
over
two
years
ago
in
Miami,
Florida
in
December
2009
for
conspiracy
to
distribute
and
possess
more
than
five
kilograms
of
cocaine,
as
well
as
possession
of
a
firearm
during
a
drug-trafficking
crime,
among
other
charges,
according
to
Jamaica's
the
Gleaner.
However,
after
a
mistrial
was
declared
9
months
later,
Myrie
is
set
to
go
on
his
retrial
on
Monday.
He
was
released
on
a
$250,000
bond,
but
he
could
be
returning
to
prison
soon
after
one
of
his
alleged
associates,
James
Mack,
invoked
his
Fifth
Amendment
rights,
refusing
to
testify.
Mack
had
initially
testified
that
he
had
never
spoken
to
Myrie
and
that
the
gun
and
cash
discovered
in
the
vehicle
during
their
arrest
did
not
belong
to
the
reggae
singer.
During
the
retrial,
however,
Mack
has
refused
to
testify,
which
could
be
crucial
in
Myrie's
retrial.
Furthermore,
a
video
exists
in
which
Myrie
is
shown
testing
out
cocaine
with
his
finger
at
a
warehouse
in
front
of
an
undercover
police
officer.
The
charges
against
Myrie
explain
that
he,
along
with
two
associates,
one
of
them
being
Mack
and
the
other
Ian
Thomas,
conspired
to
buy
a
large
amount
of
cocaine.
On
Sunday
evening,
Buju
Banton
won
the
Grammy
Award
for
Best
Reggae
Album
category.
"It
feels
good," Banton's
management
said
on
his
behalf.
"I
have
been
nominated
four
times
before
although
I
never
won.
To
me
it
means
a
lot
because
it
shows
that
my
music
has
transcended
a
lot
of
borders
and
people
are
now
paying
attention
to
what
I'm
saying
in-depth."
(BNO
NEWS)